Stole My Heart
by Death the Fairy
Summary: What if Matt and Mello didn't start off as friends? Perhaps it was Near and Matt who were friends, leaving Mello alone. Maybe a chance encounter in the computer room could change things...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The results for the end of year test were finally in. '_I __**have**__ to have beaten him this time! There's no way I'm second again!'_ I thought to myself as I rushed out of class and past everyone towards the bulletin board where all test scores and everything else important were found. As I rounded the last corner, I had to force myself not to run. Now just wasn't the time. No, that would come later when I prove to Near that he wasn't as good as he thought he was. I pushed past the few students who stood in front of the board, only to stop dead.

"No way!" I almost shouted. I was second _again!_ "How is that even possible?!" I muttered to myself, as I shoved my way through the students who were now gathered around the test results, loudly talking to their friends.

As soon as there was no one around me I took a deep breath. I had just fixed everything I'd broken last time Near got on my nerves and I didn't need to be lectured by Roger for hitting Near again. Eventually I turned and headed towards the only computer room in the institution. I had a laptop in my room – much like the rest of the kids here – but I didn't want to accidentally break it…again…

Once I'd reached the computer room, I slowly opened the door. Students weren't supposed to go into the room unsupervised. I didn't particularly care for rules but I'd only just narrowly escaped a whole year's worth of detention from when I broke Near's favourite toy.

I slipped into the room and shut the door behind me quickly before taking a seat in front one of the computers. As I switched it on, I remembered that Roger had made me change my password after he'd found out the little message – as he'd like to call it – wasn't just random letters or words.

When the computer had loaded up the log on screen, I typed in what I thought might be my new password. Only for a message to pop up saying that I had the wrong one. I frowned and tried a few different passwords with the same message popping up on every try.

Frustrated, I stood up quickly, sliding the chair out from underneath me and tipping it over as I did so. I grabbed the sides of the computer screen and attempted to pick it up and throw it before I was stopped by a red headed boy pushing in front of me.

"Give me a sec." He said and I instantly recognised his voice. He was Matt, otherwise known as Near's best friend. I glared at the back of his head while he hacked into my school account for me. "There." He said and moved out of the way, revealing my desktop background. I didn't say anything as I picked up the chair and sat in front of the screen, for some reason not wanting to write out my normal rant with Matt in the room with me.

I sighed as the silence started getting awkward and started typing in random words when I heard Matt mumble something.

"What was that?" I asked absentmindedly, still typing in random words.

"I uh…didn't say anything…" He replied, sounding distracted. I shrugged and went back to my 'work' before he spoke up again. "What's your favourite food?" He asked and I blinked in shock.

"Why..?" I replied trying desperately to think of a food I like, my mind having annoyingly gone blank.

"I dunno, just asking I guess." He said and I could hear the ruffling of his clothing as he shrugged. I sighed and turned to look at him, his eyes were focused on whatever was on the screen in front of him and his fingers seemed to twitch whenever he pressed the wrong key. "If you would kindly stop staring at me that'd be great…it's distracting." He said calmly and I averted my eyes, trying to look around the room but my eyes kept falling back to him. He didn't seem to be as irritating when he wasn't around Near, for whatever reason that only made me all the more interested in him.

"Chocolate." I said suddenly, making him jump.

"What?" He asked once he'd settled back into his game.

"Chocolate, that's probably my favourite food." I said again and started spinning on the desk chair, causing my hair to spin out and hit me in the eye. "Ow…" I muttered as I stopped spinning and rubbed my eye.

"Interesting…" I heard Matt mumble. I frowned over at him and he looked like he was laughing a little bit. "I never would have guessed." He said and turned to face me now.

"Alright, what about you then?" I challenged however I wasn't quite sure why I was even talking to him in the first place. He was best friends with _Near_ for crying out loud!

"I don't have a favourite food." He said, smiling. I, for some odd reason, smiled back and we continued on talking like that until we were interrupted by a knock at the door. Matt and I jumped in unison as the door opened. I quickly spun my chair back to the desk I was originally sitting at as the small albino boy entered the room.

"Matt, it's time for dinner now." Near said in his irritating high-pitched, girl-like voice. I frowned at the computer and started typing furiously, trying not to think about what just happened.

"It's that late already?" Matt asked, sounding shocked before I heard him get up and start walking out of the room. "Uh…I guess I'll see you later then Mello." He said quickly before he left the room. I sighed and kept writing down whatever came to mind. As I re-read what I'd just written I realised that most of it was about my conversation with Matt and not my usual thoughts about Near. I quickly shut down the computer – not bothering to save what I'd written – and left the room.

Instead of going to the dining hall for dinner, I opened the window in my room and climbed onto the roof. The sun had just started setting, leaving the playground different shades of pink and orange. I smiled and lay down as I watched the stars slowly coming out. Day dreaming of the day I finally left this place and got to live in the real world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Stretching out my arms and cracking my neck, I closed the text book I had just finished taking notes out of. Sure, school might be finished for the year but that didn't mean anything. There was always next year. Next year would be the year I finally beat Near and become number one. No ifs, buts or maybes about it. It was going to happen and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

I grabbed my notes and left the library, heading straight for my room. I didn't have anything else that needed to be done and I didn't want to talk to anyone…Not that anyone really talks to me anyway. In fact, my conversation with Matt yesterday was the first real conversation I'd had with anyone for a long time.

_'Stop thinking about it! Just because he was…alright…while Near wasn't there doesn't make him worth talking to or thinking about. He's __**Near's **__best friend and that is that.'_ I thought, scolding myself. I frowned, I was almost at my room now but I didn't feel like going there anymore. I started walking in a random direction when I ended up in front of the computer room door. _'May as well…'_ I thought as I entered the room.

I sat down at one of the computers and logged in to the school system, relieved that Roger told me my password after he found out my account had been hacked into. I never did tell him that it was only Matt helping me out and Roger never asked how I did it, even though we both knew I'd never be able to hack into it no matter how hard I tried. I may be a genius, but I've never been able to do a real lot when it came to technology. I knew the basics, that's all I needed.

"Missed me did you?" A voice said from the other side of the room, making me jump. The person only started laughing and turned to face me.

"Don't flatter yourself." I told Matt dryly. _'Maybe he __**is**__ as bad as Near?'_ I thought, turning back to my computer and opened up the internet browser. I had no idea what to look up, I wasn't even sure what I liked anymore. Matt must have turned back to whatever he was doing.

After a while the silence started getting awkward but I wasn't going to be the one to break it. I was too busy looking for something to do, however not even Google seemed to be helping.

"Okay. The awkwardness is killing me." Matt said, walking over and taking the seat next to me. I froze, no one ever sat next to me. Not because I didn't want them to. No, half the people here were scared of me and the other half were their friends. It wasn't my fault stupid people got on my nerves, and it also wasn't my fault that said stupid people often got hit. "What are you doing?" Matt asked, pointing at my computer screen. I frowned and had a look at the screen in front of me.

"I honestly have no idea. I was bored so I started Googling stuff I guess…" I mumbled and closed the tab. Whatever I was looking at mustn't have been interesting enough for me to even pay attention to it.

I stood up and started to leave when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned to look at Matt, my right eyebrow raised and opened my mouth to tell him to let go when he cut me off. "Why do you hate me?" He asked, almost shyly. I just shrugged.

"You're best friends with Near. Simple as that." I replied. He let go of my arm and looked away from me. After a minute, I sighed and sat back down again, Matt looked up at me confused. I just shrugged again and started looking for something to do on the computer again.

"Why do you hate Near so much? I mean, he hasn't exactly done anything to you." Matt said from next to me. I took in a deep breath before I even considered answering.

"Well…" I started eventually. "I never used to hate him, ya know." I said, hoping he'd leave it at that. I really didn't feel like explaining everything right now. I wasn't even sure why I chose to stay instead of leaving like I usually would.

"That's hard to believe…" Matt muttered, he'd logged into the school system and was now making his way through the internet blocks, there seemed to be a lot of them.

"Well, it's true…Just how many blocks are there?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. He seemed to have gone through at least ten and was still going.

"For you, two or three. For me there's about fifty." He replied like it was nothing. I stared at him, shocked. I knew that he was a hacker – he'd made that obvious yesterday – but I didn't think Roger would take trying to block him _that_ far. "You're kinda distracting you know." Matt said. I quickly turned back to my own computer.

"How come you keep talking to me anyway? In case you haven't noticed, no one really likes me." I asked after about five minutes of silence, it wasn't awkward, I just really wanted to know. When Matt didn't answer I looked over at him. He'd stopped trying to hack his way through the internet blocks and didn't seem to be focusing on anything. "Matt?" I asked, poking his shoulder.

"Huh?" He replied, turning to me now, his face seemed to be ever so slightly red, however I ignored it. It was always a little hot in the computer rooms so I figured my face might be a little flushed as well.

"I just asked why you keep trying to talk to me."

"Oh, right. Well everyone needs a friend, even you." He said before turning back to his computer and making his way through what appeared to be the last block. "Finally!" He said, going onto a gaming website and logging in.

I was a little shocked by his answer, I will admit. No one had ever said something like that to me before and I doubted anyone would say it again. Most people must think that I wanted nothing to do with anyone, but I suppose what Matt had said was true. Everyone needs a friend…

_'Don't even think about it. He's Near's friend after all...' _I thought as I started typing randomly into Google again, when the door opened. I jumped a little and prepared to shut down the computer and make a run for it. Matt didn't even blink.

"Thought I'd find you here." A voice I knew all too well stated. I glared at the computer screen, getting ready to log off and leave.

"Where else would I be?" Matt replied, not taking his eyes off the screen in front of him. "I was actually just talking to Mello…"

_'Don't bring me into this!'_ I thought at Matt.

"Oh really?" Near asked, sounding bored, like always. He never showed any emotion. No matter what I did to him or how hard I tried, he was more boring than getting a pair of socks for Christmas you could say.

"Yeah…" Matt mumbled, seemingly more focused on the game in front of him than anything else. Near had now sat down beside him and was watching intently.

Friendship never failed to confuse me. These two were best friends yet they had nothing in common. Near was almost always playing with his toys or putting a puzzle together while Matt was almost always playing games on the computers or his Gameboy. But for whatever reason, their friendship seemed to work.

"Mello?" I heard Matt say.

"Huh? What?" I asked, turning to face him.

"I asked you if you wanted to sit with us tonight for tea. I'm guessing you haven't eaten all day?"

"No thanks. I was actually present for breakfast and lunch, you just probably didn't see me there." I replied, lying. I had managed to miss out on breakfast and lunch because I'd spent all day studying in the library, food just didn't seem that important.

"Oh, okay then…" Matt mumbled as the silence started getting awkward again.

I shut down my computer and left the room, leaving Matt and Near to do whatever the hell they wanted. What they did didn't concern me, it was between the two of them.

_'Yeah, right.' _I thought to myself. Even though I wanted to hate him, I couldn't. Somehow, Matt had managed to slip through the cracks in my walls and I now found myself wishing Near wasn't around so I could talk to him again. _'Well…shit.' _I thought as I wound up in my room and into bed.

**I'm not promising an update a day, I just have the first five chapters written up since I have this story posted on a different website :3 but I try to update as close together as possible!**

**This is also my first MattxMello and the first time I've written as both Mello and a guy (I'm a girl) so I'm doing my best!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Waking up, I decided that I'd at least give Matt a chance. If the kid wanted to talk to me that badly, I'd let him. _'Keep telling yourself that. You know you just want an excuse to talk to him.'_ I thought to myself, frowning. I rolled over in my bed, not wanting to leave it but I knew that I'd have to eventually.

When I managed dragged myself out of bed, I walked over to my desk and unlocked the only locked draw. I pulled out a block of my favourite chocolate and sat down at the desk, opening my laptop as I did so. I opened up the internet – not needing to log into the school system for once – and paused. Taking a bite of my chocolate, I stared at the screen trying to remember what I was originally going to do. I didn't really feel like studying just yet, it was too early in the morning for that.

Sighing, I shut the laptop down again and got up. May as well have breakfast, I have to eat sometime right? I put my chocolate back in the draw for later and left the room. It didn't take long for me to get to the dining hall, my room was relatively close to it. I walked past everyone and grabbed a tray before joining the line. I was going to be here for a while.

When I'd finally gotten some sort of food, I found an unoccupied table and sat down. I stared into space as I absentmindedly started eating my jam and butter toast. It wasn't until I heard my 'name' did I realise I wasn't alone.

"Hey." Matt said from next to me, I gasped in shock and started choking on my drink. Matt immediately started laughing while I was trying desperately to stop coughing. "Die quieter please." Matt said, still laughing. I glared at him and managed to catch my breath. "Sup?"

"The sky." I muttered lamely. I looked at him for a moment before I realised what – or rather who – was missing. "Where's Near?" I asked, scowling as I said the name.

"Oh, he's sick so he's still in bed." Matt replied, taking a bite of his own toast.

"So it's human after all!" I announced, laughing. Matt just glared at me and continued chewing. "Oh bite me. You know I don't like him." I said, poking my tongue out at him. He started laughing and we settled into a more normal conversation soon after.

** Fast forward one month **

I was sitting outside with Near and Matt, trying my hardest not to punch the big headed moron in the mouth every time he spoke. Matt and I had become closer friends by now, to the point we spent almost all of our time together. Unfortunately this also meant that I would have to spend time with _it_ and act like I like him.

We'd been talking about nothing in particular for about an hour now. Mainly myself and Matt had kept up the conversation but every now and again Near would say something, and every time he did I wanted to yell at him to shut up. I didn't though, somehow I managed to keep my mouth shut and I was pretty sure Matt realised that.

"Well, I'd better get going…" Near eventually said, standing up to leave. The way he was acting now seemed a bit out of character for him. "From now on I'll leave you two alone, but Matt, if Mello ever does something to hurt you I'll still be here for you." He said and left. I watched him leave, confused. When did he decide that, and more importantly, why the hell did he think I would do something to hurt Matt!

"Well…" Matt said, standing up. "We should probably get something to eat."

"Alright." I said, standing up. We walked to the dining hall as lunch started, I wasn't hungry so I told Matt that I'd find us a table. Looking around, I realised Near wasn't anywhere to be seen. Good. I didn't want what he'd just said to have been some sort of sick joke.

When Matt finally joined me, he seemed a little out of it. I raised my eyebrow and turned to look at him but he didn't seem to notice and I knew not to interrupt when he was like this. He didn't yell or anything, he just got annoyed and stole your chocolate…

When almost twenty minutes had passed and he still didn't say anything, I started poking his shoulder. He immediately snapped out of it and seemed to blush a little, I frowned but said nothing. As far as I knew, he'd been daydreaming about some girl and forgot where he was.

"Ready to go?" He asked once he'd finished eating. I nodded and stood up to leave, Matt quickly following me.

"You alright?" I asked Matt, nudging Matt's arm. We'd been slowly walking to my room and he still hadn't said a word. I was used to this, however usually he was playing on his Gameboy and almost walking into people…or walls.

"Fine fine." He replied immediately and started animatedly swinging his arms. "Never been better. Yep. Perfect."

"Ooookay then?" I said, though it sounded more like a question. He certainly wasn't acting normal but I didn't want to keep asking questions. We finally arrived at my room and I unlocked the door. I stepped in and was followed quickly by Matt. I sat at my desk and grabbed the open chocolate bar from this morning, Matt sat down on my bed and pulled out his Gameboy.

"Hey…Mello?" Matt asked after a couple of minutes of what would be silence if not for the sounds coming from the Gameboy.

"Yeah?" I replied absently, taking another bite of the chocolate bar in my hand. Until now I'd be in my own world.

"Promise you'll never hate me, no matter what happens?" Matt said, he was no longer looking at the Gameboy. Instead he was looking straight into my eyes, he'd even moved his goggles onto the top of his head, showing me his beautiful, large green eyes.

_'Beautiful?! No! Not beautiful!' _I thought to myself, trying not to frown so Matt wouldn't take it the wrong way. "Of course I'd never hate you! ...Why would you think that?" I replied eventually, Matt seemed to blush slightly.

"No reason…" He mumbled before putting the goggles back on and going back to playing his Gameboy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_"Please, won't you follow me? I promise you'll have a great time!" A blonde haired, brown eyed girl pleads from in front of me. I smile at her and agree, not caring where we're going. She takes my hand and drags me to a hidden part of the orphanage before hugging me closely. I smile into her hair and close my eyes._

_Weight shifts from where the girl sits and I open my eyes to see the blonde hair has been replaced by short red hair. That's cool, I like red heads to. The girl looks up slightly, her eyes having changed from brown to green. That's even better, I loved green eyes much more than brown ones._

_"Promise not to let me go…" I mumble against her hair for some unknown reason as she is still hugging me, however she feels…different._

_"I promise. I'll be yours forever…" A voice that doesn't belong to the girl hugging me says. I jump in shock when I realise that it is a male voice replying. A very familiar male voice._

_I push the 'girl' away from me and see a particular red head sitting in front of me, one I'd grown quite close to in the past month. "M-Matt?!" I stutter, scurrying farther back. __**'Why was I hugging Matt?! And why was I **_**enjoying ****_it?!'_**_ I think to myself, trying to put as much distance between us as possible._

_"Yes?" He replies, calmly, however he is looking away from me. When he turns back to me I see his cute freckled face smile brilliantly at me._

I woke up panting and fell off my bed with a loud thump. "Son of a…" I started before I noticed the time. "Shit! I slept in!" I almost shouted, rushing around to get dressed. Even though we didn't have classes anymore I still liked to be up at a certain time to keep with the routine. I liked to be up at around seven o'clock and it was now almost eight thirty.

Sighing, I sat down at my desk and opened a text book at random before taking a bar of chocolate out of my draw and breaking off a couple pieces. I liked to have some sort of snack when I studied and even though dark chocolate wasn't the healthiest of snacks, it helped me concentrate like nothing else did. It was only when a knock on my door distracted me did I realise that I'd been cooped up in my room for at least four hours.

"Come in." I said to who I already knew was Matt. Who else would be visiting me? If it were Roger he'd have burst right in here and immediately demand I apologize to whoever it was I had just abused, whether I was only yelling at them or actually hit them.

Matt came into my room and went to sit on my bed, only to fall on the floor. He was playing on his Gameboy again – not that I should have expected any less – and hadn't been paying full attention to how far away my bed was from him.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing, causing Matt to glare at me as he stood up. I was still laughing but not as much now.

"Have a nice trip?" I asked and spun around on my chair.

"Yeah, I'll send you a post card next time! The hills were amazing!" Matt replied sarcastically, causing me to start laughing all over again. I could tell he was rolling his eyes at me but I was in a good mood so I didn't really care.

He eventually managed to sit on the bed when the bell for lunch rang, causing him to jump out of his skin. He must have been really into his game. He even had his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. In fact he was barely blinking.

I froze when I realised what I was doing. There was _no way _I, Mello, – a guy – was checking Matt – also a guy – out. I'm not gay!

"Matt? Do you wanna grab some lunch … or something?" I asked, looking back to a random text book now. I heard him get up and I couldn't help but look back over at him again.

"Sure." He mumbled, still concentrating on his game. I silently stood up and walked out of the room, making sure Matt wouldn't walk into anything on his way to the dining hall. When we arrived there were only one or two people still there so we got our lunch and a table pretty quickly.

"Hey Matt." Purred who can only be described as the hottest chick in the place.

"Hi." He muttered, still playing his Gameboy.

"So…what are you doing?" She said, sitting down _very_ close to him. I couldn't help but glare at her. How dare the bitch think she can get so close to him without even knowing him! _'Wait, why do I even care?!'_

"Playing Pokémon, what's it look like?"

"Is it fun?" She said, trying to get even closer to him. For whatever reason, Matt seemed to move away from her slightly.

"…What do you want?" He asked, sounding annoyed now. _'He must be at a good part in his game…' _I thought.

"You're kinda cute, you know that?" She replied, twirling a finger in her hair and giggling like a little school girl.

"And you're annoying. Now your point?" Matt asked but what's-her-face got up and left, making sure to swing her butt from side to side as far as it could go. About ten minutes later we'd made our way back to my bedroom.

"So, how come you didn't flirt back with…uhh whatever her name is?" I asked Matt, flopping down on my bed as I did so. I'd go over my notes later, right now I was wondering what the hell was wrong with my best friend.

"She's annoying." He replied, shrugging and sitting down next to me.

"So? She's hot."

"She's annoying." He repeated.

"Only a gay guy would think so." I said laughing, half expecting him to laugh with me. When he didn't I stopped. "Matt, are you…you know…gay?" When he didn't answer I froze. I wasn't sure why, but the answer – or lack thereof – made me happy, almost tingly inside. _'No. No no no no no no!'_ I thought when butterflies erupted in my stomach. _'No! There's…No! I'm just…'_

"Mello?" Matt said hesitantly, as he reached out and touched my shoulder.

"D-Don't touch me!" I exploded. His touch sent unwanted goose bumps down my arms which were luckily covered by my jumper.

"What?" Matt asked, bewildered. I jumped off of the bed and as far away from him as my small room would allow me.

"I-I said…" I started again but couldn't finish through the lump forming in my throat. He seemed to realise what I meant though, he wasn't third for nothing.

"You know what?!" He almost shouted. "You really are an asshole! I didn't want to believe it when Near told me but you just proved him right!" He was slowly moving closer to me, hands clenched in tight fists. "I thought it was just Near being a jerk!" He was so close to me now that I could feel the warmth of his breath as he shouted. "You're even worse than I think even _he_ realises!" He yelled, tears forming in his eyes, visible even through his tinted goggles. I saw his fist rise but I didn't have time to duck before it connected with my face. "I hate you! I can't believe I wasted all this time with someone like _you_!" He shouted before leaving my room.

I slowly sunk down the wall, not caring about the pain on my right cheek. _'He…He hates me…He really…hates me…'_ Was all I could think.

**I feel really bad about posting this an hour after Matt's birthday, I wish I'd written the chapter coming up later so I could post that today .-.**

**Anyway, sorry for the awkwardness of the flirting bit. I'm anti-social and worse that Haruhi (from Ouran Highschool Host Club) at picking stuff like that up. If you don't know Host Club then I'm reeeeeally bad at trying to figure out if someone likes me or is flirting with me xD**

**Oh and sorry it's so short! Apparently I didn't plan as much as I thought I did**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I'd been leaning against my wall thinking everything over for the past hour, getting more and more pissed as I did. '_I didn't even say anything! It was his own damn fault he mistook what I said for something else!' _I thought to myself and frowned, however that only reminded me of what would now be a bruise over my eye and cheek. _'And then he had to go and hit me!' _I thought as I stood up.

Stalking over to my desk I ripped open a chocolate bar and bit into it – snapping off a huge chunk as I did so –, trying to calm myself down. However that didn't work, if anything, it only made the problem worse. That's when I came up with a plan.

I put whatever was left of my chocolate bar back in the draw before leaving the room. I knew exactly where _he_ would be right now and as far as everyone else knew we were still best friends so it wouldn't look weird going into his room without knocking.

When I reached the room I opened the always unlocked door and sure enough, he was gone. Smirking, I shut the door and flipped on the light before making my way through the messy room to where he kept his most important gaming stuff. I knew I couldn't take it all so I grabbed what could be easily hidden, that being his Gameboy charger and favourite games. I knew it was childish but I didn't care.

I quickly left the room after making sure there was no sign of my being in there – other than the missing stuff – and half ran back to my own room. Luckily for me most of the kids here were either outside playing or in their rooms so no one saw me.

Once I was back to the safety of my room I hid the stuff in my closet under some clothes. As soon as I'd shut the closet door I felt better. _'There. That'll teach him for punching me in the face.' _I thought, walking over to my desk and grabbing out my notebook.

The next day I was back to my 'normal' routine – studying for hours by myself without any interruption. Well, that was until Roger thought it'd be nice to barge straight in without knocking.

"Mello!" He all but shouted, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"What is it now?" I replied without looking up from my text book.

"You know damn well 'what'!" He yelled, stepping closer to where I was seated.

"If you're not going to tell me what I've done now, then kindly fuck off." I replied and couldn't help smirking as I did so.

"Language, Mello!" Roger said, sounding exhausted already. Stupid old man… "Back to the matter at hand, Matt has told me that some of his personal items have gone missing and that you are the only person he could think of who might take them."

"Well I don't have them." I said flatly, I'd always been a good liar but somehow I doubted Roger would have believed me even if I hadn't taken the stupid games. "Now leave, I'm busy!" I heard some shuffling of feet but the steps were too light for them to be Roger leaving.

"Mello!" Came a familiar voice, however it was tinged with anger. _'Still a nice voice though…'_ I caught myself thinking. _'No! Not nice! More like….annoying!'_ I tried thinking instead. "Where did you put them?!" Matt asked, I could tell he was trying not to yell.

"I. Don't. Fucking. Have. Them." I replied, slowly as I turned around to face him, being sure to look everywhere but his eyes. "Now leave! Before I _throw _you out!" I threatened, standing up now to show him I meant it.

I was caught by surprise when Matt grabbed my wrists and pinned me to my wall, glaring straight into my eyes. Even though his were covered by his tinted goggles I could still imagine the emerald green colour of his irises, though I knew they would be flushed with pure anger now.

I gulped. I hadn't realised until now he was taller than me and being this close to him while all his anger was directed on me scared me more than I'd like to admit. "Now listen here." He started in a low, deadly tone. "I know you have my charger and games. You're going to get them out of wherever the hell you hid them and give them back. Got it?!" He finished, his voice fully implying the unspoken threat. I swallowed and nodded. He released me and I quickly scrambled to my closet and uncovered the hidden games and charger. He quickly walked across the room and snatched them off my before storming out.

"Mello, as punishment for your behaviour, you're on kitchen duty for a week. Starting tonight." Roger said, firmly, leaving no room for argument. Still a little shaken up from Matt's earlier behaviour, I nodded quickly before returning to my desk like a good little boy. Roger left the room after that to do god knows what.

A couple hours later I'd fully gotten over my earlier shock and realised what I'd stupidly agreed to. There was no way _I_ was going to do kitchen duty or whatever the hell it was! Checking the time, I saw that I still had at least ten minutes before Roger would attempt to make me work in the kitchen. I smirked and left my room, heading for the window that lead to path to the roof.

Once I was safely on the roof, I was surprised to see another person already there. I slowly walked closer – being sure not to make a sound – and froze when I recognised the red hair and goggles.

**Not as long as I hoped but it'll have to do.**

**One thing, as it says on my profile, I'm Australian so I'm not familiar with England's school system therefore I am going by my own school system. The year is 2004 and it's around the middle of January**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 [not edited]**

What was _Matt_ doing on the roof?! Of all people, _Mr Indoors_ was on the roof. _My _roof! I started to walk over to him and tell him to get off when I remembered that he was probably the only person capable of pinning me down. I slowly started walking the other way, I wasn't retreating! No way! More like… Getting chocolate? Yeah. That's it.

Once I'd reached the window I realised it would be smarter to jump down to the ground. I was on the first story roof so I wouldn't hurt myself if I landed right. Taking a deep breath, I jumped and landed on the grass somewhere around the back of Wammy's. A few seconds later I heard someone else land; however their landing didn't sound as smooth as mine.

I looked over and saw Matt was holding his foot and hadn't realised I was walking over there until I was only a couple metres from him. He looked at me and I felt a slight tingling in my stomach. '_Stupid kid._ _Can't he just leave me alone?!'_ I thought to myself as I walked past him and back inside. Roger would know by now that I wasn't going to attend kitchen duty so hopefully he'd given up on it.

As I was walking back to my room I couldn't help but feel guilty. Up until yesterday the guy was my best friend…my _only_ friend. _'Stop feeling guilty!'_ I scolded myself. It wasn't like me to feel guilty about anything. _'If anything, I should hate him! … Then why can't I..?'_ I stopped walking and punched the wall. It was all so frustrating! I should hate him! He's gone the furthest anyone had dared by punching me without my doing so first! _'I don't care he's gay, it was just that stupid dream that made me freak out! Maybe I should apologise…'_

A few minutes later, I was storming back to my room. _'Why should I apologise! I did nothing wrong! It was him that twisted my words!'_ I thought, slamming my door once I was safely through it. Heading straight to my chocolate draw, I ripped open a new bar of chocolate and quickly downed the whole bar. That was a first. Until now I'd only ever eaten it as a snack when I studied. However it wasn't enough, I was still fuming and needed to calm down.

I grabbed a second bar and snapped chunks off with my teeth, it was only when I was reaching for a third bar did I stop. At this rate I was going to make myself sick. Instead, I set off for the library. Hopefully there isn't anyone in there. I'm really not in the mood for people. Luck seemed to hate me lately it seemed.

As I entered the library I realised I wasn't as alone as I thought I was. I could just see the top of Matt's red hair peeking out of where I needed to go. Ignoring the annoying tingling sensation in my stomach, I walked as quickly as I could past them and grabbed whatever book my hands landed on first.

When I turned to walk back to my room, my foot slipped on something with wheels and I felt myself falling. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact of the ground. I was shocked a few seconds later when I felt a body under be instead of the unforgivingly hard wooden floor of the library. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it.

I froze in shock for a moment when I realised I had landed on a very surprised Matt's lap. I gulped and ordered my body to unfreeze at the same time he did. I scrambled to get to my feet and he was trying to push me off just as quickly which only led to me falling to the floor by his feet. Blinking, I got up quickly and kicked over whatever Near was building closest to me.

"What the hell?! Why did you have to leave your shit everywhere?!" I yelled in Near's general direction as I stormed off back to my room, book in hand. I would be glad when I was back to my own room. When I reached the room, I grabbed a block or two of chocolate and collapsed on my bed before getting into a more comfortable position to read in.

About ten minutes later the book was on the floor and my chocolate was gone. I felt like pulling my hair out at my own stupidity. I should have checked what book I'd grabbed, if I had I wouldn't have ended up with a stupid romance book and I most certainly wouldn't have been replacing the main characters with myself and a certain red head I didn't even want to think about.

I switched off the lamp by my bed before pulling the covers over myself, I didn't care what the time was. I'd had enough of today, it had to end. Now.

I was up by six the next morning, classes start today and if I was going to beat Near then I had to study more. There was no way I'm coming second to that loser again, this year is _my_ year!

I quickly walked over to my desk and grabbed out the text books I knew we'd be studying this term as well as my – now usual – two blocks of chocolate. Two hours later, I'd finished off my chocolate and had about half the books worth of notes written down. It was only half an hour later when the warning bell rang did I get up and get ready for school.

Once I was dressed, my teeth and hair brushed, I quickly grabbed my bag and hesitated slightly before packing more chocolate into it. '_If Matt can bring his Gameboy into class without anyone noticing, then I should be able to eat right?' _I thought to myself then shook my head to get rid of the thought. I didn't need to be thinking of _him_ now. Not when I had such an important task ahead of me.

**... All I can say is that I hate, hate, hate the way I've done this chapter but at the moment I can't think of any other way to write it. I'll probably get around to editing it soon enough and have it the way I want it but I wanted to get something out, even if it's only short. Apparently I couldn't stretch out the chapter any further than I already have.**

**NOT EDITED!**


	7. Chapter 7

Finally the week was ended and the first rankings of the year were up. I couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu as I hurried past the students to check on my results. I was a little anxious this week, I hadn't been concentrating as much as I'd liked no thanks to _someone_ always being on my mind.

As I rounded the last corner, I noticed there wasn't anyone else around for once. _'Maybe I'm a little late?' _I thought as I stepped closer to the rankings. Of course the twit was first and I was second, what shocked me was Matt's results. He was in tenth place when he could have easily be first. _'Wait. Why do I care about _his _results?! He…he hates me so I should hate him to!'_ I thought as I started walking towards the library.

"Tenth place." A voice caught my ear when I was about half way there. I stopped just outside the room I recognised as Matts. "Matt, how could you have allowed yourself to sink that low?" The voice questioned, it was only then I realised it was Roger. _'Why's he getting lectured in his room though?'_

"Sorry sir…" I barely heard Matt mumble in reply.

"Sorry isn't good enough. You've been sleeping in class, you never study and I've had reports saying you've been staying up all night to play video games. Video games! Matt, you have the potential to be ranked first yet you seem content with third. I'm giving you an ultimatum. Either you show your full potential next week – that includes studying – or you keep a steady third for a month, otherwise you won't be getting your electronics back."

"What?!" I heard Matt almost shout and I twitched. I knew I should have left by now but I wanted to hear Matt's response.

"You heard me, now I'm trusting you to bring all the electronics to my office now. If I catch you playing any video games until I decide you can have them back, you won't ever be getting them back. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes sir!" Matt said, I could hear him clumsily gathering his games. That's when I decided I should leave, I didn't need to be caught eavesdropping, especially just outside Matt's bedroom.

When I'd made my way to the library, I grabbed my usual books and headed to a table in the back, that way I'd be able to study in peace and no one would kick me out for eating my chocolate as a 'study snack'. Apples and oranges are okay, but as soon as chocolate is brought into the equation you're kicked out, believe me.

A chocolate bar in my right hand, and a pen in my left, it was time to get some serious work done. I'd almost slipped into third place this week, there was no way I was going to come third. Ever.

I'd been studying non-stop for a few hours before I was finally kicked out for dinner. Stupid human body needing food. Why couldn't we have been built with the need for food? Whoever made humans could have done a better job at it that's for sure.

Eventually I found my way back to my room with a plate of bits and pieces that could be snuck back into my room. I had no time for a break, however I also couldn't study with one thing constantly nagging on the back of my mind.

I sat down at my desk, grabbed out a note pad and a pencil. It was time to get the nagging thought out of my head. '_There was no way I'm gay…right? Then why can't I stop thinking about him?' _I thought, frowning. It was all so frustrating! _'Okay. Maybe I like him a little bit? … Geez I can't even lie to myself… Okay. So maybe I'm bi? Yeah, that has to be it. Now that that's sorted…' _I thought and started trying to think of flaws in Matt that could possible get me to stop liking him like I did.

After an hour of trying to think of things, I only ended up with a couple weak reasons – and they were things I didn't really care about anyway. It was time to turn to Google, that place always seemed to have the answer.

I typed in a quick search and a bunch of sites came up. I closed my eyes and clicked on one, they'd all be the same thing anyway. I read through the different things to do, they were all ridiculous and would never work. 'Tell a friend or adult?' Sure, if you had either of those that might help. 'Get over him.' Isn't that _why_ someone would go on a site like this?!

To avoid breaking my laptop, I shut it down and went over to get another bar of chocolate out of my draw. By now I'd lost track of how many I'd had today, but I didn't really care. Chocolate seemed to be the thing that calmed my frazzled nerves, luckily I had a high metabolism so I could eat as much as I wanted and not have to worry about weight gain.

I unlocked the draw and stuck my hand in, only to find the draw empty. Great. Just another reason I _should_ hate Matt. He's made me go through a month or two's worth of chocolate in little over two weeks. I left my room and headed towards the kitchen to steal as much chocolate as I could hold, I'd have to come back later with a bag or something when I was calmer.

As I was heading back to my room – my arms, hands and pockets now full of chocolate – I managed to bump into someone. I looked up at then, ready to tell them to 'watch where they were going' when I recognised the person in front of me.

We started at each other for what felt like forever when my eyes flickered down to his lips of their own free will and I caught myself wondering what it would be like to kiss him. I felt my face go red upon thinking that and my butterflies were now full of those annoying butterflies.

I quickly stared down at the chocolate in my arms as Matt silently walked past me. For whatever reason, this caused my eyes to water. I frowned and rushed back to my bedroom before the stupid tears could spill over. I was Mello, I don't cry. That's my rule. I don't cry and I haven't since my parents died, about ten years ago now.

**After what feels like forever, here's the new chapter! Not edited, but I'll get around to it eventually.**

**Thoughts? Seems Mello's got a little bit more to go yet but he's getting there! And what's going on with Matt? Why's he suddenly 10th place? All will be revealed...eventually :3**

**P.S. Is it just me, or does it seem weird to write mellow like that?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It was finally the weekend and I was studying like usual, however this time I was about ready to rip my notes up. I'd read them over one hundred times each already. I'd memorised everything on the scraps of paper in front of me and I was getting sick of re-writing the same notes from the same text books time and time again. It was time for a change.

I got up and headed straight for the library, there was no point ruining my text books any further than I already had so I may as well borrow text books from the next level up. '_Maybe if I do this, I'll be able to beat Near once and for all!' _I thought, smirking to myself as I opened the library doors.

What I did _not_ expect to see as I entered was Matt surrounded by text books. I froze momentarily as the butterflies in my stomach erupted and my face went slightly red as the memories of what I'd attempted last night flashed back. He didn't seem to see me so I quickly made my way past him once my body unfroze.

Once I was back in my room, I threw the text books on my bed and grabbed a block of chocolate. On my way back I'd skimmed through a couple of the text books, from what I'd read it was pretty much all the same stuff I already knew. '_Who needs to be reading the same thing over again, only with different wording anyway?' _I thought, biting into my chocolate.

I laid down on my bed and stared up at the celling as I slowly ate the block of chocolate in my hand. It was only when the lunch bell rang did I realise I'd been staring off into space for well over an hour now. That was new, usually I couldn't keep still long enough to stare into space for more than a few minutes. Eventually I got up and decided on grabbing a 'proper' lunch instead of surviving on chocolate like I seemed to be lately.

As I made my way to the dining hall, I managed to bump into someone I'd really rather have not seen for the rest of my life.

"Sorry." Near said in his usual monotone, upon looking up at who it was he bumped into a little bit of emotion seemed to enter his eyes. Scary.

"Yeah, yeah, just watch where you're going next time." I muttered, trying to make my way past him before I could hear whatever it was he'd obviously wanted to tell me.

"Mello, I need to talk to you."

_'Damn it. I didn't get away quick enough.'_ I thought, grimacing. "What is it?" I asked, copying his monotone, the sooner he said what it was he had to say, the sooner I could get away.

"I'm actually a little worried about Matt." He said, causing my head to snap around to where he was standing, facing what was previously the back of my head.

"Wait – you _do_ have feelings?" I questioned. I couldn't help it, he'd never expressed any type of concern about _anything_ before.

"I am not a robot, contrary to what you seem to believe. Yes, I do indeed have feelings." He started before seeming to hesitate slightly.

"Just tell me what is it you're worried about." I said, trying to sound bored.

"Well… I think you should apologise to Matt and go back to being friends with him."

"Why on earth would I do that?!" I exploded. '_Why did he have to stick his nose in my business? Okay, maybe it's his business to since he's friends with Matt…'_

"He hasn't been eating or sleeping unless I force him to – which isn't easy, might I add. Plus he's been doing nothing but playing video games twenty four seven."

"How is that any different from how he was before?" I asked, even though it was a lie. I couldn't help but be a little worried to, no matter how much I tried to squash those…feelings, they were still there and not leaving any time soon.

"That's it, isn't it." Near said, seemingly having a sudden change in attitude. I didn't like where this was going.

"What's it?" I asked, frowning.

"You have feelings of the romantic kind for Matt, don't you?" He hit the nail on the head. However I couldn't let him know that. No one was allowed to know that.

"No way!" I denied immediately, ignoring the nervous feeling in my stomach and the hot feeling on my face. "Besides…he hates me anyway…" I mumbled, my voice catching on 'hates'.

"Mello, if you know what's good for both yours and Matt's sanity, you'll go and apologise to him." He said, sounding like he knew everything. I hadn't even realised my hands were in fists until my left one was connected with the little runts face. There was enough force behind the punch to knock him to the ground, leaving the both of us shocked.

"If you know what's good for _you_, then you'll stay well away from me. Got it?" I said, using a deadly tone before continuing on towards the dining hall for lunch. Near was still on the floor, conscious but not showing any signs of getting up.

It wasn't even ten minutes later that Matt came up to me, obviously angry. "Could you kindly tell me why Near now has a huge bruise on his face?" He asked, somewhat sarcastically.

"He should know not to stick his nose in other people's business." I muttered, trying my hardest not to look Matt in the eyes. Those things were dangerous.

"That doesn't give you a right to punch him!" Matt exploded, causing me to stare wide-eyed at him. The only other time I'd seen him like this was when we'd had our…fight a week or two ago.

"He was accusing me of bei…" I stopped short, there was no way Matt could know the reason I'd punched Near. "Something." I decided on. "He had no right to say it! He's a liar!" I finished, looking back down at my plate. I heard Matt sigh before walking off, leaving me to my lunch. I'd be the liar if that didn't make me feel even just a little bit sad and lonely…

Another week of nothing but studying later, I'd decided I'd had enough. It seemed like there was test after test at this place and nothing I did seemed to be good enough. _'If Near's not in second place this week then I'll stop trying so hard.'_ I decided.

I left my room in search of the bulletin board and was shocked when the weeks results weren't up yet. There was no way I was too early, something had to be up. However I didn't get the chance to ask around before Roger dragged me by the arm to his office. Apparently I wasn't even worth asking to follow him anymore.

"Sit." Roger said once he'd shut the door to the office. I rolled my eyes but did as I was told, if I listened to him now then maybe I'd get out quicker. I had to know what was going on with the results. They were never late.

"What is it this time?" I asked as politely as I could.

"While I was making my usual rounds this morning, I noticed Near had a large bruise covering his eye and most of his right cheek. I believe you had something to do with that?" Roger said, getting straight to the point. For a guy who didn't like kids, he seemed to spend a lot of time making sure they were all in line when he could have just let us go as we pleased.

"Wait, why do you automatically suspect me?!" I questioned, upon realising he never said anything about Near or Matt saying it really was my fault. "At least give me a little bit of a chance!" Roger sighed.

"So it wasn't you who hit him then?" He questioned and I went quiet. He sighed once again and rubbed his temples. "Mello, I'm getting tired of having the same conversation with you day after day, week after week. I don't understand why you have Near so much, you could learn a lot from him."

"Maybe because he's a know-it-all little-" I started before Roger cut me off.

"No matter your personal opinion, you do not have the right to hit him – or anyone else for that matter – if they simply get on your nerves. If that was the way the world was run, then we'd be in chaos." He stopped for a moment, seeming to think about what he was going to say next. "Mello, you have so much potential, if you could simply control you temper I'm sure you'd be able to go a lot further than you have already. You're an incredibly bright child, it's just your attitude holding you back now." It was about then that I started to drown him out. I'd heard it all before, first he'd tell me how much 'potential' I had, followed by my 'attitude problem' with the conclusion that I should be more like Near – cool, calm and collected. I had to resist snorting at the thought, he was an emotionless robot and I didn't want to be like that. Ever.

Half an hour later I was free to go. It was lucky I was allowed to go when I did, otherwise I'd have gotten a lecture for falling asleep _during_ a lecture.

Soon enough I found myself back in my bedroom after checking for the hundredth time to see if the week's rankings were up. I'd been pacing around the small space trying to clear my head. _'So what the results are a little late? They'll be the same no matter what happens so calm down.'_ It was only then I decided on having some chocolate, I'd been trying to cut down on it but to no avail. I was still going through just as much as I was before I started trying to cut down.

When I got to my draw I realised that I'd locked it the night before, but as I went to reach for the keys which were usually on my desk, I realised I'd moved them and now couldn't remember where I'd put them.

Nothing in my room was safe from what was about to occur. Everything that was in my reach ended up being thrown across the room, for the moment I didn't care what it was, be it clothing, bedding, pens, pencils, books. They were all ammo in my war against the air.

Ten minutes later, my room was trashed and I was calmer than I had been. I shook my head quickly, trying to erase whatever thoughts were still flowing through and headed for the bulletin board. It was almost one in the afternoon now, they _had _to be up!

I sighed in relief when I saw the familiar paper pinned to the wall. I closed my eyes for a minute before opening them again to read the results.

Rank two: Near.

**O.O Near's in second place?! Could Mello have finally done it? Tune in next time to see the end results...**

**P.S. too tired to edit xD I'll edit tomorrow probably.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Rank two: Near.

I stared at the rankings in shock. _'Have I finally done it!?'_ I thought, however my eyes wouldn't budge from the second ranking. I blinked a few times and shook my head. I was being stupid, if Near was second, then I'd have to be first right?

My eyes still refused to budge however, and I was growing frustrated as a crowd started gathering to see their own results. It was only when the crowd went quiet and started to part through the centre did I finally manage to drag my eyes to see who was in first.

Rank one: Matt.

_Matt_ was in first place?! My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my head. _'Wait, if Matt's in first and Near's second, that means…'_ I thought and looked for my own 'name' on the list. _'Third…'_ I sighed and started turning to leave, only to see a very shocked Matt next to me.

"First…" He barely whispered, staring at the results. I could hear the crowd slowly moving away, obviously awaiting my reaction. It seemed that only then did Matt realise I was standing right next to him.

"Well… Congratulations." I said, smiling sincerely at him. He seemed a little shocked at this, as did everyone who'd stayed to watch.

"Um, thanks?" He replied, smiling nervously. I was still smiling and couldn't resist hugging him, causing him to gasp in shock.

"Sorry for being such an ass." I mumbled as I let go of him.

"I-it's okay." Matt stuttered, obviously shocked at my apology, smiling a little now. "Does this mean we're friends again?" He asked, sounding a little hopeful. I nodded in response and walking away from the board, leaving the left over crowd shocked.

We made it back to Matt's room soon enough, it still seemed a little awkward though. I sighed, this was only to be expected – especially after what caused us to fight in the first place.

"So…do you still have a problem with…well me being gay?" Matt asked, sounding a little unsure.

"No. I never did, I guess I was just shocked…" I mumbled, forcing myself not to blush. I heard Matt sigh with relief and felt the awkward tension lift as he handed me a Nintendo 64 remote. "Still think you can kick my ass?" I asked, accepting the challenge. If he beat me in the rankings, I was going to beat him at Mario Kart.

It seemed I was getting a bit ahead of myself earlier. After at least ten rounds of Matt kicking _my_ butt, the dinner bell rang – saving me from losing yet another time.

We made our way to the dining hall just as dinner was being served – roast lamb and various roasted vegetables. Matt made a face at the vegetables and I couldn't resist laughing. He pulled a face at me, causing me to laugh even harder. It was only then I realised just how lonely I'd been in the couple weeks we were fighting.

Once we'd grabbed our plates we found a table by the back, laughing and making jokes about whatever crossed our minds at the time. _'Okay so maybe this being bi thing isn't so bad right? I mean, who really cares? It just opens up my world a little more.'_ I thought, smiling to myself.

"What're you smiling at?" Matt asked with a mouthful of potato.

"N-nothing." I stuttered, shovelling whatever food was on my fork in my mouth. I still wasn't sure whether or not to tell him, I'd only just figured it out myself after all.

"You sure?"

"Yeah!" I said through a mouthful of food, causing Matt to roll his eyes at me.

Another ten minutes later, we were both finished our food and waiting for Roger to say we could go back to our respective rooms. As I turned to Matt to say that we could probably sneak out without anyone noticing, I saw the little white haired thing walking over. I smirked when I noticed he still had a huge purple and black bruise over his eye though.

"I've just come to say that I'm glad you've worked things out. Oh, and happy birthday Matt." Near said before leaving just as abruptly as he came. It was about a minute after it left did the words sink in.

"Matt, why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" I asked, confused now.

"I dunno?" He replied, shrugging. "I just didn't really think it was worth bringing up is all."

"But it's your birthday!" I whisper shouted. We weren't supposed to share too much personal information, that included birthdays.

"So? It's just another day."

"What type of cake do you like?" I asked quickly.

"Strawberry sponge, why?" He replied, blinking a few times in confusion.

"Be right back." I said and took off. I needed to be quick and very quiet now. No one was allowed into the kitchens, and we were most certainly not allowed to take anything without asking first.

I quickly surveyed the dark space around me, there had to be a random table of sweets somewhere. L himself used to visit Wammy and Roger here at random times – hell, even I'd met him a couple times – so there was _always _sweets just lying around.

After about five minutes of searching, I spotted the table. Luckily Matt's favourite cake also happened to be L's so there were a couple of them, however I only needed one. I quickly walked over there, snatched the cake, a couple plates and a knife before running out of the kitchen.

"Okay, time to leave." I said when I reached a by now very confused Matt. I barely slowed down enough for him to catch up, there was no way Roger could catch me now. That would ruin everything!

We reached Matt's room in record time. I relaxed a little and put the cake and plates down as Matt shut the door behind us. "Okay what the hell Mello?" He asked, sitting down at his desk chair.

"It's your birthday, so I figured we'd have cake!" I announced, smiling at him. He frowned in confusion and had a look at the cake.

"Well…since you went to all the trouble of getting a cake." He mumbled and I noticed a slight blush on his cheeks. Ignoring what it did to my insides, I picked up the knife and handed it to him.

"Since it's just the two of us, I'm not singing 'Happy Birthday'. It'd be too awkward." I said, trying not to blush myself. "Just be sure not to touch the bottom!"

"Alright." Matt said, rolling his eyes at me and cutting the cake – being sure not to touch the bottom. It was only then I realised I didn't actually know how old he was.

"How old are you now anyway?" I asked, looking down at the ground and blushing a little as Matt handed me a slice of cake.

"Fourteen, same age as you." He replied and I could hear his smile. I looked back up at him and noticed straight away that he'd lost the goggles, leaving his beautiful green eyes exposed.

**Sorry, not as long as I'd hoped it would be. I've merged a few chapters of my plan together to hopefully make them longer though!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Wednesday. The middle of the week. How boring. Well, it would have been if not for the meeting between the top four students in Wammy's.

"As I'm sure you're all aware by now, L has been risking his life on the Kira case." Roger started in a grave tone. I felt my eyes widen, I had no idea _this_ is what we were called in for. '_Maybe L's finally choosing his heir?'_ I thought to myself as Roger started talking again. "Now Near, Mello, Matt and Summer*, you are the top four students at the orphanage and as such are the children most likely to succeed L."

"I'm out." I heard Matt say from next to me.

"What do you mean you're out?" Roger asked with a confused look on his face. I turned to face Matt, my right eyebrow raised.

"I mean I don't want to become L's successor." Matt tried.

"If that's how you feel, then I'm not going to try change your mind. You will, however, need to be excused from this meeting."

"Fine by me." Matt said and left. I stared after him for a few seconds before turning back to where Roger was waiting for all our attention.

"Now, back to what I was saying. Watari has told me that L will be needing to look for an heir sooner than he thought as he thinks this case might kill him." Roger paused, as if waiting for his words to sink in.

"So this means one of us will be the next L then?" Summer asked. I turned slightly to look at her. She seemed pretty average. Green eyes, strawberry blonde hair maybe a little shorter than me. _'A straight guy might find her attractive…' _I caught myself thinking. '_A straight guy? But aren't I into girls as well?' _I thought and had to refrain myself from any outward reaction. No one could know the hell it was inside my head at the moment.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Roger said, snapping me back to reality.

"Who's it going to be?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"I'm not sure, L hasn't made his decision yet. I was just told to let the three of you know that the decision will be coming sooner than expected. That is all."

I left the room as quickly as I could. There was no way Near was going to beat me to being L's successor. I didn't have to worry about Summer, she was fourth. Two spots under me.

As I neared Matt's room something seemed odd. Usually I could hear some sort of game music from down the hall yet nothing seemed to be playing. _'Maybe he finally got some headphones off of Roger?'_ I thought with a laugh.

Upon opening the door, Matt seemed to be standing closer to the open window than I'd ever seen him stand before. I know I should have been a little more worried about him being unnaturally close to the window than the way the little sun that shone through the clouds made the different shades of reds stand out.

"Hey Mello, could you grab that…um…charger for me? My Gameboy is about to go flat." Matt said, pointing to where the charger behind me was sitting. I rolled my eyes and turned to grab said charger. It was only when something wet hit the back of my head did I realise why he asked me to get it.

I turned back around to see Matt smirking at me. I smirked right back and grabbed whatever snow was still clinging to my hair. It was only then did Matt's ungoggled eyes go wide. I ran over to him and smeared the mush into his hair, knocking both of onto the bed in the process.

"Hey!" Matt called out after I'd run out of snow. "That's cheating!" He said, obviously trying not to laugh. I opened my mouth to say that it was not cheating when I felt something _very_ cold going down my back, causing me to shiver and lose my balance.

"Geez Mello, you're heavy!" Matt complained from under me. I felt my face go bright red as I wriggled to get up when I had a different idea. "Mello!" Matt cried out in surprise when I moved in and cuddled him closer. "What are you-" He started before I shoved ice down the back of his own shirt. "Oh. This is war!" He declared. I jumped up off of the bed and ran for outside, Matt quickly followed behind me.

After about five minutes of throwing snowballs at each other without much of a strategy, we both decided it was only fair for us to have a shield of some kind. We quickly set about making our own forts before getting back to our fight.

"Watch out!" I called as a snowball flew straight past my face, making a beeline for Summer. She didn't have time to duck before the snowball hit her. I could tell both Matt and I were holding our breath as she slowly turned to face us with an evil smirk on her face.

"You're the one who should watch out!" She shouted with an Australian accented voice before throwing a snowball at both Matt and I. Luckily she was right handed so the snowball she threw with her left missed me by a long shot. Unfortunately for Matt, they both managed to hit him.

"Oh it's on!" Matt shouted and threw more snowballs our way. It wasn't long before a majority of Wammy's was involved in the snowball fight. It felt strange, there was no tension no hatred. Enemies were on the same team working together while best friends were seeing who could hit each other the most.

A few hours later the sun started setting yet the battle was still in full swing. It was only when the bell for dinner started and Roger come out to drag us inside did it end.

Matt and I made our way back to my bedroom after dinner with a couple of hot chocolates. We'd been chatting about nothing all day and by now Matt was going on about a new game that was supposed to be coming out soon. As I watched him speak I couldn't help but look into his eyes. They were so full of excitement, it was as if he didn't have a care in the world while he was describing this game to me.

_'I love him..'_ I thought to myself, smiling. _'Wait. What?!' _I thought when I realised what I'd just been thinking. _'Well…shit.' _I sighed in my head. _'Well…maybe I could…'_

"Hey…Matt?" I said hesitantly, feeling a little bad about cutting him off midsentence.

"Yeah?" He replied, obviously not bothered in the slightest.

"Well…I was wondering if maybe…" I started before my tongue became twisted. I could feel my face burning bright red and my stomach felt like it was doing summersaults. I could feel my palms starting to sweat and my heart beat faster.

"Wondering what?" Matt asked with pure curiosity showing in his bright green eyes…Eyes I loved so much.

"W-wondering if…" I tried again but I still couldn't get the words off.

"I'm not getting any younger here Mello." Matt joked, causing me to laugh nervously. "Mello, just tell me what it is. I could never hate you, remember that." He said, blushing slightly. That's all I needed to be able to force the rest of the words out.

"I was wondering if…I could maybe…k-kiss you?" I asked, my face going even redder if that was possible. I glanced up at Matt out of the corner of my eye. He was blushing just as much as I'd bet I was but he wasn't showing any sign of response. "I-I mean… I just wanted to see something. It's just that I've been having these thoughts lately so I thought that maybe if we…well…yeah, I might be able to sort things out in my head once and for all…" I started rambling, trying to feel the awkward silence that had filled the room. "I knew I shouldn't have asked…" I muttered.

"O-okay." Matt stuttered, blushing even deeper if that was possible.

"Wait. What?" I said, feeling my eyes go wide.

"I mean yes." He said, looking away from me now. I swallowed. _'He's actually going to let me..?' _I thought.

I placed my hot chocolate down with shaking hands and moved closer to Matt. I licked my lips before turning to face him, he was already looking straight into my eyes and I almost got lost into the depth of his.

"R-ready?" I asked, my face only a few centre metres from his now. He could only nod. I blinked quickly before I closed the distance between us and carefully placed my lips on his.

My stomach erupted in butterflies and I could feel my heart beat accelerate. I could feel Matt's hand slowly creeping over the back of my head and into my hair, I was shocked to find myself mimicking his actions. We deepened the kiss a little before I could feel Matt smiling, causing me to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Matt asked, our foreheads were touching now and we were both breathing heavily. Even though it was such a small kiss, it still felt amazing.

"You're not supposed to smile silly." I replied, by now I'd caught my breath and really wanted to kiss him again.

"That's better than biting you isn't it?" Matt replied, laughing a little as he did so.

"Perhaps." I replied, smirking a little. "But I don't think you're supposed to smile with all your teeth." I said and he giggled._ Giggled._

"Oh well." He said, smiling again. I leaned back a little further and grabbed his hand before drawing patterns on it with my thumb, staring intently at it. It was only then I realised just how long I'd been in denial for.

"You know…" I started. "I've never been able to hate you. Back when you asked me why I hated you I came up with some piss weak reason and I'm sorry for that." I stopped to take a deep breath before continuing. "There's…there's a fine line between love and hate. Unfortunately I got muddled up while walking along the tightrope between the two and confused what can only be love for hate. Maybe…Maybe that's why I never bothered learning about much to do with technology. I'd subconsciously wanted you to fill the void there. Perhaps I hated Near so much because I was jealous that he got to spend more time with you than I did…I dunno…I guess…I really am just an idiot." I said, finishing my rambling.

"Mello…"

"No, let me finish." I looked back up at Matt now. "So, I guess I'm trying to say that I…well I love you. Would you… Would you be my boyfriend?" I asked, looking him straight in the eyes now.

"Of course you big loon! If you hadn't said all that just now, I would have!" Matt replied, smiling like a kid in a candy store. I smiled back and leaned in to kiss him again before we were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I swear I'll kill whoever that is." I muttered, glaring at the door as it opened. Matt and I separated quickly as _Near_ walked into the room. Near! Why of all people did it have to be him!?

"Mello, Roger wants to speak with you, Summer and I. He says it's urgent." Near said, interrupting mine and Matt's moment. It wasn't hard to miss the glare I was giving him yet he didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest.

Once he left the room, I sighed, gave Matt a quick peck on the cheek before dragging myself to the old farts office.

*** Summer is my OC and as such I own her as my character alone.**

**First things first, even though Summer and myself share the same name, Summer is by no means me. I was just too lazy to think of a different name xD**

**Anyone else besides me think this is weird. For whatever reason, I decided I would wear my striped jumper today since I was cold. About an hour or two later I found two pairs of goggles I didn't even knew I owned and about half an hour later I found my missing DS xD Perhaps I'm supposed to be Matt not Mello xDD **


	11. Chapter 11

I found myself sat on a chair in Roger's office, along with Summer and _It._ I was refusing to call It by It's name since It ruined mine and Matt's moment.

"Mello, could you stop scowling please? I have some very important news." Roger said, leaning his chin on his hands as he did so.

"No." I replied, glaring daggers at him now. Roger closed his eyes and sighed for a moment before speaking again.

"As I was saying, I have important news." He opened his eyes again and looked at us all in the eyes before continuing. "I've just received a package for each of you from L himself. He says that whoever completes the task inside the quickest and fully completed with no mistakes will most likely succeed him. He said that he will be checking over everyone's work himself in between working on the Kira Case."

"What kind of task?" Summer asked, I didn't have to look at her to know she was sitting cross legged on the only chair in the office behind me with a slight smirk on her face, she always looked like that. So predictable.

"I believe it was a murder mystery kept a secret from all media outlets. I'm afraid I cannot answer any more questions as I was instructed not to look at the case inside." Roger replied before taking three packages out from his desk draw and handing one to each of us. "You are to look them over in your own time. That is all." He said, effectively dismissing us.

"I wonder who will win." Summer said from next to me as we left the office.

"I will of course." I replied, only realising she was talking to herself afterwards.

"Oh really? _You_?" She retorted, smirking once again.

"Yes me. There's no way _It _can come first this time!"

"It..?" Summer asked, frowning slightly in confusion.

"Near." I muttered, looking away from her.

"…Whatever. I'm still going to win!" She said before half running, half skipping to wherever the hell she was going. I rolled my eyes and turned to make my way back to Matt's room, only to see that he was sitting outside the office playing on his Gameboy. I looked around quickly to make sure no one could see us before squatting next to Matt and giving him a quick peck on the cheek, causing him to jump and subsequently die in whatever game he was playing.

"Mello! You scared the hell outta me!" Matt said, chuckling a little as he stood up.

"That was the idea!" I replied, half smiling, half smirking as I stood up next to him.

"Jerk." He said as he put the Gameboy back into his pocket. "So what was that meeting thing all about? You're not in trouble again are you?"

"Of course not!" I replied, feigning innocence. "Why would _I _– of all people – be in trouble?!"

"Mello." He said rolling his eyes, obviously waiting for the real answer.

"I'm hurt!" I said, widening my eyes and pulling my lips down in a pout. Matt stared at me, obviously waiting for me to get on with it. "Fine. Roger have us a case to work on to see who would be the one to most likely succeed L."

"And you waited this long to tell me!?"

"Apparently so." I smiled a little, in spite myself before taking his hand in my free one and walking towards my bedroom where I'd be able to start on the case and beat It once and for all!

Once back in my room, I sat down at my desk and started reading through the case. It didn't seem too hard, a suspicious house fire and all we had to do was figure out who was responsible. I'd been given a few different clues as well as a list of suspects and their alibies. It was all too easy to eliminate the parents and daughters, why would they set their own house on fire? Besides, none of them had a motive and they all had a solid alibi.

"I wouldn't cross out the twins." Matt said from behind me, causing me to jump out of my skin.

"How long have you been there?!" I asked, turning back to glare at him.

"Since you sat down." He replied, shrugging. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the case.

"Whatever you say…" I mumbled before remembering his advice. "Why shouldn't I cross off the kids?" I asked, frowning down at the paper in front of me.

"Look carefully, they didn't have the best relationship. Maybe that could be a motive? It seems like they were secretly jealous of each other, that could be the motive? But then there's always the neighbours…" He replied, muttering to himself by the end.

"Would you like to help me on this?" I asked, turning around to face him now.

"If it's alright with Roger, then sure." He replied, smiling at me.

"Alright, then let's go ask." I said standing back up and stretching.

Matt and I eventually made our way down the hall to Roger's office, not needing to knock before walking in. The old man always seemed to know when someone was coming. He must have spy cameras or something…

"How can I help you?" Roger asked, looking up from his book.

"Would it be okay if Matt worked on the case with me?" I asked as I leant against the wall. I wasn't in here to be lectured so why take a seat in front of the old geezer?

"Yes, under one condition." He replied, placing a bookmark in the book now and putting it down on the desk.

"What condition?" I asked, wary now. He could come up with anything…

"Matt would have to go back into the running to becoming L's heir. This way it's fair to the other students." He said before turning to Matt. "Are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, I guess." He replied, shrugging. Roger nodded before picking up his book and dismissing us as the bell for dinner rang. "Hungry?" He asked as we turned the corner towards the dining hall.

"A little." I replied, shrugging. I'd never really been one to think about food…unless it was chocolate. I smiled at the thought of the ever increasing stash hidden away in my room, waiting for me to come back and devour a chunk of it.

We arrived at the dining hall soon enough, grabbed our food and sat down to eat. There weren't a lot of people around by now so there was no one around to see as I snapped off a chunk of my chocolate, only to have Matt bite off the chunk still left hanging out of my mouth. I laughed and swallowed what was in my mouth before dipping my finger in Matt's vanilla pudding and putting it on his nose.

"Meet me on the roof about an hour after lights out." I said to him as we finished our dinner.

"Why?" He replied, putting both our trays away.

"You'll see!" I said and ran off. I had things to plan.

I was now waiting for Matt on the roof, feeling a little uncomfortable in my dress shirt, jeans and sneakers. The bag hanging over my shoulder was getting heavier and heavier as time went on. I knew that I'd arrived a fair bit earlier than I meant to, but I couldn't help it. I'd been nervous ever since dinner and couldn't wait in my room any longer.

As I went to take a block of chocolate out of the bag, I saw the familiar red hair popping up over the side of the roof followed by my new boyfriend. _'Still feels a bit weird thinking that.' _I thought with a laugh before waving Matt over.

"So, gonna tell me where we're going?" He asked.

"Nope! Just follow me!" I said, taking his hand and walking over to the edge of the roof. We climbed down in silence before sneaking across the grass towards the gates. I'd managed to get my hands on the code needed to get through the iron gates.

Once the code was in I held my breath. I wasn't sure when the last time Roger or any of the other staff bothered to oil the gates since we rarely received anyone new here and we were never allowed out. Luckily the gate opened silently and we quickly walked through.

"Still not going to tell me where we're going?" Matt asked, eyeing the bag.

"No way!" I replied, sticking my tongue out at him and taking his hand once again. He sighed and rolled his eyes. It was only then I realised he'd gotten rid of the goggles and cleaned himself up a little bit.

I could feel heat rise on my cheeks so I made sure to keep my gaze forward. We walked for a while before finally coming up to the city area, while I had next to no money, I did know where a few parks were.

I felt the hand around mine tighten and I looked over at Matt to see his eyes widen astonishment. I laughed a little as he took in the sights.

"You know, when I was little I used to come to a place like this all the time." Matt said to me as I set up our picnic in the nearby park.

"Really?" I asked, a little surprised. It was rare for the kids at Wammy's to remember their lives before. Most arrived when they were only young.

"Yeah! Me, my mum, dad and my older sister used to spend hours at the park!" He said, smiling hugely now. It would be lying to say that I wasn't the littlest bit curious. "In fact, my last birthday before I had to come to Wammy's was at the park!" **(A/N imagine Matt's face is something like this: ^_^ )**

"Really?" I asked, picking up one of the sandwiches I'd snuck into the kitchen to make.

"Yep! In fact, it's probably my best memory from my life before. Did I ever tell you that I'm actually from Ireland?" He asked, taking a bite of his own sandwich now.

"I could have guessed." I replied, sticking my tongue out. To be honest, I'd never really thought of it.

"Sure you could." He replied, sticking his tongue back out at me. "And my real name's Mail Jeevas ."

"Mihael Keehl." I replied before I'd realised it. We continued on talking about whatever crossed our minds until around one in the morning. We packed up the picnic and started heading back to Wammy's.

I smiled as Matt took my hand as we slowly made our way back. I couldn't believe how well tonight had gone. The walk back was silent, but nice. We both admired the stars you usually couldn't see through the trees at Wammy's.

Once back at Wammy's, both Matt and I made our way to my bedroom before hopping into bed and falling asleep in each other's arms.

_Matt and I have just revealed our real names to each other and I can't help but feel incredibly happy. Never have I been able to trust someone else in the house with something as little as my true birthday. I feel as if I'm on top of the moon, yet it doesn't stop there._

_"I was probably four, almost five when I first got to Wammy's." Matt starts. "I honestly had no idea what was going on and I really didn't care. I just wanted to be back with my mum, dad and sister…" He sighs before looking up at the sky and continuing. "We were in a car accident. I'd barely made it but my parents and sister died at the scene of the accident. I've been told that it was a drunk driver that hit us and if it weren't for the position my head was while I was sleeping in the back seat, I would have been a goner like the rest of them." I can see tears forming on the corners of his eyes by now as he recalls what little he can remember of that day. "It's weird though. I never really think about that day or wish it went any differently." He smiles and looks at me, his bright eyes shining with the tears he seems to refuse to let spill, however as one manages to slide down his cheek I lean in to kiss it away before he can wipe it. He takes in a shaky breath before taking a sip of one of the drinks I'd brought with us._

_"How come you're telling me all this?" I ask, unable to hide my curiosity now. We're not allowed to tell each other anything, including what country we're from. So why was he telling me this now?_

_"I guess because I know I can trust you…and because I love you." He replies, not hesitating in the slightest._

_I can feel my the corners of my mouth pulling up in a smile before I even realise it. Matt smiles back at me like a little kid now and I can't help but lean forward and kiss him. I know that must have taken a lot to think about, let alone say. I can't even imagine trying to tell him about my life before Wammy's._

_"Thank you." I finally say as we break the kiss. "I love you to."_

**Sorry for making you wait for over a month for this chapter now! A mixture of writers block and no will to write will do that to a person though .-.**

**Anyway…Okay so this is going to be a weird note, but I'm curious. What colour eyes do you have? Mine are green xD so I always feel weird when I have Mello complements Matt's eyes xDD oh well xD Oh and another thing, how do you read Matt's real name? I've always read it Mile because when I first read it my brain flipped the letters to spell Mial xD For once it ended up right xDD**


	12. Chapter 12

As Matt and I sat at my desk and working on the case, I couldn't help but think about how lucky I was. I chanced a look at Matt to see that he was working hard on his part of the case, he'd even taken his goggles off leaving his beautiful eyes exposed.

"What are you smiling at?" Matt asked, I hadn't noticed he'd turned his attention to me or that I was even smiling.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all!" I replied, trying not to laugh.

"Tell me!"

"Nope!"

"Please?!"

"No way!"

"Pretty please!?"

"Nope!" I said, laughing a little now.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top!?" He tried the puppy dog eyes.

"No!" I replied, cracking up laughing.

"Not even for a kiss?" He purred into my ear, causing me to blush furiously. He smirked, thinking he'd won.

"Not even for a kiss." I replied, giving him a chaste kiss anyway. He quickly turned back to the case and hid his face slightly behind his hair, although he wasn't quick enough to hide the blush from me. "If you must know, I was thinking about how lucky I am to have someone like you." I decided on telling him and I turned my own attention back to the case.

When nothing was said back, I wasn't worried. I knew that he was blushing even more by the way his pen dug into the paper he was writing on. I chuckled slightly as I took a bite of my chocolate and concentrated even harder on the work in front of me. There was no way Near was going to beat me! Especially since I had Matt on my side!

Two or three hours later, the bell for dinner rang however I didn't budge. I saw Matt get up from next to me and stretch out his arms above his head. "I think that's the longest I've gone without even thinking of playing anything!" He announced, sounding proud of himself. "But we should really get something to eat…"

"I'm not hungry." I said quickly as I compared two different bits of evidence. _'There has to be some way they connect…' _I thought to myself, frowning slightly.

"But you haven't eaten anything all day!" Matt reminded me. I sighed and held up my fifth block of chocolate for the day. "Fine…I'll bring something back for you…" He mumbled, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

I sighed and slowly put my pencil. I felt bad, and not because I'd eaten too much chocolate. No, I felt…guilty. He was my boyfriend and I'd made him leave without so much as a goodbye or a 'thank you for thinking about me!'

"What am I thinking?!" I said out loud to myself, this was no time to give into guilt. I _had_ to get this case finished as soon as I possibly could! I didn't have time to feel guilty or hungry. I had to spend every waking hour I have on this case! I had to beat Near… I just had to…

I turned back to my work and set pencil to paper, smiling to myself as I finally figured out the connection between the two pieces of evidence from before. _'Now we're getting somewhere!' _I thought, still smiling to myself. The case was moving along steadily now, there was no way I was going to come second. Never again!

It wasn't long before Matt came back with soup for me to eat. "You have to eat sometime." He said as he placed it down on the desk next to me. "And I mean more than just chocolate." He told me, eyeing all the chocolate wrappers I had scattered around me.

"I'll eat later…" I mumbled, still scribbling down notes.

"No. You'll eat now." Matt ordered.

"Later, I'm almost finished."

"Mello!"

"Later! I promis-" I started before Matt took the pencil off of me. "Hey! I need that!"

"No, you need to eat!" Matt said, frowning at me as he held the pen above his head and out of my reach.

"Matt! Please?! I was almost done!"

"Then it can wait until after you've eaten something! Please Mello? For me?" He demanded, although his voice started wavering by the end. He was looking away from me now but I could tell he was worried.

"Fine…" I mumbled, sitting down at the desk and grabbing the bowl of soup as the horrible guilty feeling came back. I ate in silence as I waited for Matt to calm down. I knew there was no use talking to him right now, it wouldn't help anything. "I'm sorry." I said once I was finished.

"It's okay…" Matt mumbled in reply, turning back to me with a wonky smile on his face. I felt my heart break, there was no way I'd ever do that to him again. Although I knew that we'd fight more in the future, I hadn't realised until now just how much I'd worried him. "Let's just get some sleep." He said, yawning.

"Okay." I replied, climbing into bed with him and kissing him goodnight. I still wanted to work on the case some more but I knew that right now I had to be with Matt, he seemed pretty upset.

* * *

**Oh my god an update! I am so so so sorry it's been so long! I've had some seriously bad writers block but I think it's gone now! :D The next update should come soon if I don't have too much homework (sorry this one isn't longer!)! Damn year 11 sucks sometimes xD I'd just like to say thank you to anyone still reading my story and sticking with me through out all my awkwardness at the beginning and my writers block .-. So yeah a BIG thank you to all the those people! And for the people commenting on the chapters as well, especially those wishing me luck and not demanding something I couldn't produce quite yet :'3 it really means a lot to me c: That's all for now!**

**P.S. I haven't edited this chapter xD I just really wanted to get it out so sorry for any errors!**


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